BEIJING -- America may translate as the "beautiful country" in Chinese, but it is also known as the arrogant superpower heir to the European invaders who carved up parts of China in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The spy-plane incident is rapidly inflating the hate element of China's love-hate relationship with the United States. The sense of awe and respect for America's wealth and power soon turns to outrage when the Yankee "hegemon" shows its true face.
History lessons at school drum into every Chinese citizen how their nation was ruthlessly bullied by evil foreign powers, from the British and its opium-fueled theft of Hong Kong to Japan's brutal occupation from 1937-45. The isolation of Communist China from 1949 only hardened this sense of outraged nationalism.
Over 50 years on, and nationalism is proving a vital if perilous prop to the Communist regime still at China's helm. Strident nationalism deflects attention from many domestic ills born of an ossified political system, and shores up support for the party in a nation that has eagerly abandoned Marxism for cut-throat capitalism. It was seen most dramatically in 1999, when angry crowds protested the NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. Now, the loss of a fighter pilot, and the U.S.' refusal to apologize, is inciting further anti-American sentiment.